Ayn Rand Says...

If physical force is to be barred from social relationships, men need an institution charged with the task of protecting their rights under an objective code of rules.

This is the task of a government - of a proper government - its basic task, its only moral justification and the reason why men do need a government.

A government is the means of placing the retaliatory use of physical force under objective control - i.e., under objectively defined laws.

-- Ayn Rand, "The Nature of Government," The Virtue of Selfishness